NSW news Instagram account now says it is authorised by NSW Labor
The Instagram account nswnewsroom now states in its bio that it was authorised by the NSW Labor state secretary, the party's senior administrative officer. The Guardian reports that the authorisation was added after the Sydney Morning Herald reported on the account.
The account first posted two weeks before 13 November 2026. Its bio describes it as a way to keep up to date with news from the NSW government, a description the government has since addressed.
One of the account's reels carried the headline "Another Liberal MP quits, almost a third now gone". It cited the Daily Telegraph and NSW MP Jordan Lane as its source. Lane is the sixth sitting NSW Liberal member to announce he will not re-contest the March 2027 state election.
A NSW government spokesperson described nswnewsroom as "a Labor-affiliated social media page, consistent with the practices of most major political parties and a number of minor parties across Australia". The spokesperson's comments put the page in the same category as party-linked pages run by other parties.
The same kind of activity is under way in Victoria. The Instagram account vicnewstoday was set up ahead of the November 2026 Victorian state election, and its bio carries an authorisation by Victorian Labor HQ, the party's state headquarters.
In late October 2026, the Labor Party launched a page titled "Don't Risk It Vic". The page promotes posts about a Liberal-One Nation alliance. Meta's ad library shows that the page paid $67,138 to promote posts between 31 October and 6 November 2026, making it the highest-spending political advertiser in Australia that week.
